“This is something that’s in our blood,” said Gabriel Prout, the owner and a deckhand of the 116-foot F/V Silver Spray. However, now his passion and family tradition is in jeopardy. On Oct. 6, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced it was closing the 2023-24 Bering Sea snow crab season for the second season in a row. “The stock is currently at all-time low levels from the survey time series,” said Ethan Nichols, the ADF&G acting area management biologist for the Bering Sea & Aleutian Islands region. “So, the threshold for opening is that total mature male biomass has to be at least 25% of long-term average. And in 2023 total mature male biomass is estimated to be between 15 and 19% of the long-term average.” The news felt like a punch to the gut for Prout, whose family relies on the season for 80 to 90% of its revenue. Video, >>click to read<< 11:40